NEWSWEEK CHAMPIONS CUP

March 14, 1998

Jan Michael Gambill

MIKI SINGH: Update on the rain delay, two hours and four minutes. First question for Jan-Michael.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: No, you're not wrong. He did it. That's how he is. I mean, some guys do that. I guess it's not really good sportsmanship, but that's the way it is. It didn't really bother me. I thought it was funny. He went over to the sideline a whole lot of times. That's fine. I mean, he can do that if he wants to.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I don't know why he's doing that. Is he making fun of Korda? If he does that, that's kind of ridiculous, if he's making fun of Korda. Korda has a good heart, and he tries his hardest every single time. He loves playing the game. If he's doing it -- that's something he's started to do. That's another story all together.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I thought we could have got a few points in before it started raining. Two it's also -- we started at zero-zero, so it really didn't matter.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: It was a little difficult. I was a little tired going out, when I first started today. When I came out, I felt better. I didn't play a very smart tiebreaker. I felt like I was at least more energetic.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I don't feel like I played a very good match today at all. I missed too many balls, made too many errors, gave him a lot of points. I feel like I let Agassi down a little. I don't think he would have played like that today. I feel like I had a great run here, and I'm as happy as I could be, you know, with my performances. Been the biggest tournament of my career, and I'm very excited about it.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: No. What happened?

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I went for too much on that thing. I mean, I should have just taken it, hit it inside out the other way. Certainly should never have missed that ball.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Well, it came crashing down today. I hope that it can take me far. I feel like I'm playing pretty good tennis, hitting the ball well, serving well most of the time. Didn't serve very well today. But I'm serving well most of my matches. I feel like I'm playing good tennis. I can stay out there with most people, you know. I still stayed out there today, pretty well. Didn't play a horrible match, but it could have been better. He's a very good player, very good player. Gets to every ball, makes you hit tons and tons of shots. I missed too many. But got to give him credit for running down. He runs and gets everything.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Yeah, I would definitely consider it a breakthrough tournament. It's gotten me to where I am now, with my ranking, I can get into most events, all the Grand Slams. That's huge. Now I'm going to have an opportunity to play a lot of big matches, hopefully have some good wins.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Thank you. I've appreciated them. I love to play in the atmosphere here.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Oh, I learned that my footwork was really bad today. I feel like I'm going to need to work on that a little bit. It's fine for the first three or four balls, then I'm hitting without moving. You can't do that. No way you can do that in the top pro tennis. I also learned how good of a player Rios is. He really plays good tennis. I need a little better strategy against him next time.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Does he play with two hands on both sides?

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Then maybe he doesn't know. I think I play pretty good with two hands both sides. I don't feel like I need to switch to one-handed shots. I mean, it is a fast-paced game. When I'm moving well, I feel I can dictate the points most of the time. I did today, I dictated a lot of the points.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: During the matches, I know if I get down on my own serve, I know I have a chance of coming back. I also have a chance of breaking back after getting broken or whatever, just keeping the pressure on then, even if they're ahead. I feel like I'm doing that a lot better.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: My new goal would be Top 50 right now. I'd love to be in the Top 30, Top 20. I think that I'm playing that kind of tennis right now, today, this tournament. So hopefully I'll continue it.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I'm not going to say he's not a very good sportsman. He did some things that weren't unsportsmanlike. Every sport has that. Tennis has very little of it. When somebody sees it, it amplifies it, makes it worse. He's doing a few things, but it's not that bad, not that big a deal. It's not something I would do. But to each their own.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I mean, he was going over and getting a different racquet all the time, stopping me when I was serving. He did that a few times as I served. Just slowing the pace down a little bit. I think he knows that I like to play at a fast pace, and I think he was trying to throw me off a little bit. Which is actually good tactics. Got to commend him on that a little bit. Worked for him.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: That's the Adidas family. That's my family and friends out there.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Many are saying I'm the new American hope. I love hearing that. Hopefully, maybe that.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I haven't had a lot; I've had some. I'm going to play a lot of the claycourt tournaments this year. I had kind of a full tour last year, but it will be my first real full tour on the clay. I think my game is suited pretty well. My groundstrokes are pretty good when I'm moving well and I can stay out there with a lot of people. It's going to be a little bit slower, so I'll have to get used to that.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: Not at the moment.

JAN-MICHAEL GAMBILL: I have been speaking to a few different companies.